2014 AD100: Allan Greenberg Architect

Once hailed by architectural historian George Hersey as “the most knowing, most serious practitioner of Classicism” in America, Allan Greenberg was actually an ardent modernist when he moved from his native South Africa to the U.S. in 1964, following stints with Scandinavian superstars Viljo Revell and Jørn Utzon. Some dozen years later, however, the architect had an epiphany while working on an addition for a 17th-century house in Connecticut, according to his recent book, Allan Greenberg: Classical Architect (Rizzoli), noting that he found “the process of designing it more exciting because of the necessary research into the background of the existing house and the adjacent buildings.” Modernism, he decided, seemed soulless in comparison. Subsequently Greenberg, who has offices in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Greenwich, Connecticut, crafted some of the finest traditional buildings and interiors—residential, collegiate, and governmental—since the glory days of Mott B. Schmidt (one of his idols). He has also authored a clutch of esteemed books (1999’s George Washington, Architect is a show-stopper) and won historicist commissions from such boldface names as Harrison Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, Carolyne Roehm, and Martha Stewart. allangreenberg.com